title: A new Brazilian Passiflora leafminer: Spinivalva gaucha, gen. n., sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Gracillariinae), the first gracillariid without a sap-feeding instar.
abstract: Male, female, pupa, larva and egg of a new genus and species of Gracillariidae (Gracillariinae), Spinivalva gaucha Moreira and Vargas from southern Brazil are described and illustrated with the aid of optical and scanning electron microscopy. A preliminary analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences including members of related lineages is also provided. The immature stages are associated with Passiflora actinia, Passiflora misera and Passiflora suberosa (Passifloraceae), and build mines on the adaxial leaf surface. Initially the mines are serpentine in shape, but later in larval ontogeny become a blotch type. Although the larvae are hypermetamorphic as in other Gracillariidae, there is no sap-feeding instar in Spinivalva gaucha; the larva feeds on the palisade parenchyma, thus producing granular frass during all instars. Pupation occurs outside the mine; prior to pupating, the larva excretes numerous bubbles that are placed in rows on the lateral margins of the cocoon external surface. This is the second genus of gracillariid moth described for the Atlantic Rain Forest, and the second gracillariid species known to be associated with Passifloraceae.
authors.affiliation: PPG Biologia Animal, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre RS, 91501-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosângela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brito
authors.forename: Gislene L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Hector A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Gilson R P
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Moreira
keywords: Atlantic Rain Forest; Neotropical region; Passifloraceae; gracillariids; leaf-mining moths; passion vines